LAILAH
TWENTY-FIVE
Jay and Parker made quick work of setting up our information center and getting down to business. Rolling my chair over to Cami, I leaned in and whispered, “What are the rest of us supposed to do who can’t find all the things on the internet?”
“Did you practice your cheer routine?” Cami asked, resulting in getting a smack from me. “What? I think you would look super cute in one of those mascot costumes. What would you be? A teddy bear, bunny, oh I know! An elephant since they’re your favorite animal!”
“Really, this is how you want to act when the end of the world could be right around the corner?” I teased.
“Fine, what do you think would be more productive, Miss Synergy?” Cami shot back.
Before I could answer her, Micah walked up to us and reached out a hand to me. “Come on, Cookie Monster, we’re going to find out if they have a sparring area. I want to make sure your skills aren’t rusty if we’re going into battle.”
Instantly, my memory flashed back to the battle where Parker and I managed to survive before we freed the others.
I hadn’t spoken about it with all that had happened between now and then, but I knew for a fact I wasn’t rusty.
When I reached out to our Bond though, I could feel that what Micah really needed was some time with me and this was his solution.
“Sure, and if they don’t, we can explore the place so I can make sure the council of whoever gets these people what they need. ”
“Won’t all this be over once the Dark Lord is defeated, though?” Cami interjected. “I mean, that’s what they said, right? Synergy will appear when needed most to banish evil from the world.”
“I would really love to believe that but I’m not feeling particularly trusting of angels or demons at this point. Better to be safe than sorry, I think,” I responded as Micah pulled me out of my chair and we left the room.
“Do you really think it’s possible that this could all be over when we kill him?” Micah mused. “If we can take out a Prince of Hell, I feel like that would be a pretty big warning to others who might try.”
“Yeah, but what happens when we die? I don’t think we’ll suddenly live forever and protect the world from disaster just because we’re the six people who saved it once,” I said with a snort.
Micah glanced down at me with an odd look on his face. “Lailah, you brought back Parker from the dead—”
“Only because he was cursed! It had nothing to do with him getting stabbed or his head chopped off. If you die in a normal way, I wouldn’t put any hope in the fact I can bring you back.”
He grunted in response, intertwining our fingers together. “I put all my hope in you, Lailah. Hell, I put the fate of the world in your hands because I know it will be safe.”
It was moments like this that reminded me why I loved this cranky asshole so much. They didn’t happen often, but in these rare moments, he could be so utterly vulnerable and sweet.
As we searched the place, we didn’t find anything that looked like a sparring area or even a workout room. Just when we gave up hope, my good buddy, Chad, stepped out of an office and stopped us. He froze like a deer in the headlights, eyes wide and worried.
“Chad, what do you know, we were just looking for someone who might be able to help us,” Micah called out, a wide grin plastered on his face. “This place doesn’t happen to have a workout room or training area does it?”
Chad opened and closed his mouth like a fish a few times before he managed to get words out. “Lower level.”
“Great... how do we get there?” I encouraged when he didn’t expand on that information.
He turned and started to walk away from us then paused and looked over his shoulder, waving for us to follow him. I leaned into Micah and whispered. “You scared that guy into being mute.”
“If only it was that easy with everyone,” Micah muttered. “The world would be a better place if people knew when to keep their mouths shut.”
Chad led us to an elevator, and we discovered that we were on the top floor out of three subterranean floors.
It seemed that the second level was the facilities for the staff like a cafeteria, workout space, and other utilities, while the third and lowest level were the apartments.
The elevator door opened on the second level.
Chad led us out and pointed down the hall to the left.
“Take it until it ends and the gym will be past the double doors.”
Micah patted Chad on the back, making him flinch as if he’d been shocked. “Thanks, man, we’ll take it from here.”
“That was mean,” I whispered harshly.
“Asshole, remember,” Micah answered with a wink. “Seems I’ve gone soft if you’ve forgotten that little detail.”
Rolling my eyes, we entered the gym to find Brayden and Hudson already there, dressed in matching gym shorts and white t-shirts. “What are you guys doing here?”
“What took you guys so long?” Brayden asked, his brows scrunched. “We’ve been waiting for almost fifteen minutes.”
“How did you know how to get here?” Micah challenged.
“We asked Blessing when we saw her in the office,” Hudson said, cocking his head to the side confused by our question. “Have you guys been wandering around this whole time?”
“Whatever, we’re here now so it’s best if we just get down to business. The other reason I wanted to spar was to see what happens now that Lailah’s powers are unlocked. It’s smart for us to know what we’re dealing with before we end up face-to-face with the Dark Lord,” Micah shared.
“Yeah, that’s great and all, but I don’t think they have warded rooms like they do back at Ryevick,” I countered.
Brayden walked up to me and grabbed me by the hips so I was facing him. “Why don’t you put up a shield for us to work in? You’re bonded to us all now so it should be way easier to do.”
Pausing at that thought, I realized he had a point. “Guess there’s only one way to find out.”
Closing my eyes, I gathered all six balls of power and pulled strings of energy from them, weaving them into a net.
I’d never done anything like this before but it just seemed to be instinct and flowed easily between my fingers.
When I felt like I’d woven it tight enough, I tossed it out around us and made sure to cover the floor since there was another level to this place.
Then I sealed up the last bits of it, creating a perfect containment for the space.
“I think that should work,” I commented, looking around as if I could actually see what I just did. “I don’t think anyone else can come in or out of the space I just blocked off though.”
“That was fucking amazing, Cookie. You did that so fast and I can feel how powerful it is,” Micah said with a grin. “Let’s see what other things you can do.”
Without missing a beat, he materialized his swords, and they burst into flames. “Holy fuck!”
Next Brayden and Hudson produced their weapons as well, each of them glowing with a fire that matched their powers.
It seemed that they all had a power upgrade, and it made me curious as to why Parker’s staff had done that.
But then I remembered how much power I was pouring into him when it happened.
Now, I didn’t have to do anything but be connected to them to give them a solid boost. Skipping my sai, I went straight for the sword and shield but instead, I got two small crossbows with golden tipped arrows that glowed with my power.
“So, is this an upgrade?” I asked, waving them at the guys.
“Whoa, don’t wave those around like that until you know what they can do!” Micah barked, ducking out of the way. “Didn’t Jay teach you anything with those gun lessons?”
Seeing as they all had a slightly panicked look, I dropped the crossbows to my side. “Better?”
They all gathered around and examined them, taking my hand, turning it this way and that to get a better look.
“I have to admit, Sunshine, those look far more impressive than my guns. Try one out and see what happens.” With a wave of his hand, Hudson made a water target that floated in the air opposite of us.
With a shrug, I lifted one arm, aimed down the sights and pulled the trigger. The short arrow flew from the crossbow faster than my eyes could track and when it hit the water, it exploded like a bomb of golden light, knocking us back on our asses.
“Yup, that is definitely an upgrade, Angel,” Brayden groaned as he sat up. “Look at that. It reloads itself. Just like Hudson’s guns, they never run out of ammo.”
“Oh, those are going to fuck some demon asses up!” Micah crowed, smiling like a fool as he helped me to my feet. “If all of us have gotten upgrades like that, then I’m not so worried about this fight.”
We all laughed at feeling the same sense of relief, knowing we had a fighting chance for this battle. It all came to a halt when the gym door was thrown open and Blessing stood there her face filled with panic. “You need to get back upstairs now!”
“What happened?” I demanded as I pulled a string in the net, unraveling the whole thing in a second, allowing Blessing to enter.
Her eyes were wide, and I didn’t have to be bonded to her to sense the fear that she was feeling right now.
“They’re almost here. Makoto and the Dark Lord’s army.
They’re attacking the school. The wards are keeping them at bay but they haven’t been renewed in a long time. I’m not sure how long they’ll last.”
That was all we needed to hear before we bolted out of the gym and headed for the stairs next to the elevator.
None of us wanted to risk the chance we got stuck in it.
How the fuck did Makoto know we were here?
We’d been right under his nose for three days, why wait to hit us here?
Could it be that he finally figured out that Parker wasn’t dead?
None of it really mattered, the fight was upon us and we had a date with the devil.